In each case the focus of the building is an image of the deity, ruler, or
individual sustained by the cult.
This image is a physical vessel through which the deity, ruler or individual
can receive cult; it is not itself the deity or person: see the page on the
ritual of opening the mouth and eyes of
a statue.

In general the cult precinct grows in scale and the earlier mud-brick buildings
are increasingly replaced by stone elements and then building complexes entirely
built in stone: again, this transformation in material varies over place and
time. For the general pattern, see the page on the
spread of the 'formal temple' across Egypt over time.

Most well-preserved temple buildings from ancient
Egypt are located in southern Upper Egypt, from Dendera to the First Cataract,
and date to the New Kingdom and Ptolemaic to early Roman Periods. These follow
a fairly standard plan, but it is not certain what proportion of temples across
Egypt would have shared that plan and elevation.